


Heat of the Moment

by daddychilton



Category: Halt and Catch Fire
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 12:59:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4101859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daddychilton/pseuds/daddychilton





	Heat of the Moment

**Author's Note:**

  * For [waltass](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=waltass).



Donna told Cameron that she was the boss, but in Cameron’s eyes, they were both the boss. Cam couldn’t do the professional stuff – she just didn’t have the experience. Yeah, she was tech-savvy and knew what Mutiny needed, but calling electric companies? Giving presentations to potential investors? That wasn’t Cameron’s bag, and she knew it.

She needed Donna. They were partners.

Mutiny was the quietest it had been in a long time. Most of the lights were out (to save on electricity costs, Donna had said). Cameron sat down in one of their worn-out sofas and pulled nervously at a tuft of cotton that was sprouting from the arm. The more she pulled, the worse it looked. She didn’t mind. She preferred frayed edges.

She heard keystrokes. The sound of one of the games starting up. The sound of tanks shooting and blowing each other up. Someone was in there with her. Part of her hoped it was Joe; part of her hoped it was Donna. Most of her hoped it was neither.

“Hey, who’s in here? I thought everyone had left.” The keystrokes stopped, the shooting sounds died. A chair scraped against the worn, wooden floor as it was pushed back from its desk. Thumps on the wood. Someone wearing heels.

“Cam, didn’t know you were still up. Thought you’d gone to bed like everyone else.”

Cameron looked at Donna and smirked. Her red hair was falling askew around her face. The bun she’d been wearing was frazzled and drooping—it would fall completely soon. Everything she’d been wearing earlier was wrinkled. For once in her life, Donna looked frumpy.

“Yeah, well, I thought you’d gone home. Won’t Gordo miss you?” She motioned to the spot next to her, and Donna sat down, her head drooping. She held a beer loosely in one hand, but Cameron guessed it hadn’t been her only one that night.

“I guess he will, I dunno. He’s been off lately. Mutters a lot about Joe in his sleep. Dunno why. Can’t imagine why. Don’t wanna know why.” She took a swig of the beer and coughed after it went down the wrong way. Her breath reeked of alcohol. Cameron saw splotches of it on her blouse where she’d either spilled or splashed it. The woman looked like a regular wino.

“Guess I wouldn’t wanna know either.” She sniffed. Sighed. Donna was quiet. “I mean, I didn’t mean anything by it. Sure it’s nothing. You know that he hates Joe more than anyone else. Well, except for maybe—“

“It’s okay,” Donna whispered. “Don’t matter. Gordon and I are fine with the kids. Long as we’re there for the kids, don’t matter.” The last sentence came out in a runny slur. She hiccupped, and laid her head on Cameron’s shoulder. “Can you just shh for a little while, Cam. It’s been a long day. I just don’t wanna think for about six hours. Just wanna drink this beer… unless there’s something stronger ‘round here.”

As much as Cameron didn’t want to move – it was nice to have someone need her shoulder – she slid off the couch and into the kitchen. She pulled a handle of Southern Comfort out of the cabinet and poured a glass each for her and Donna. Doubles.

“Here you go ma’am, just what the doctor ordered,” Cameron said, flopping back down on the couch. “I didn’t put any ice in it – figured your past that point of caring either way.”

“You figured right,” Donna said, tipping the glass back with her long fingers. She gulped it down. Straight. Didn’t even flinch. Cameron was shocked.

“Are you really alright, Don?”

Donna looked up at Cameron for the first time, and Cameron saw that she’d been crying. Her mascara ran in dusty rivulets down her cheeks and under her chin. Her lips trembled and her eyes shut. For a second, Cameron thought she’d either start crying again, or would pass out, but neither of those things happened. Instead, Donna kissed Cameron, and for half a minute, her entire mouth was filled with nothing but the taste of alcohol and Donna’s fading perfume. Something she doubted Gordon ever really noticed.

That was unfair, she thought. Gordon noticed everything, he just didn’t want it.

She pushed Donna gently onto her back, straddling her waist. She kissed her deep, letting her tongue explore every atom of Donna’s mouth; Donna was just as eager.

Cameron helped Donna out of her blouse (fingers fumbling buttons and clasps) and her skirt (heavy sighs and heated breath while unzipping); her heels thumped on the ground near the sofa.

They were both almost positive that everyone was gone, but they didn’t care. It was the heat of the moment, like the song by Asia, and—

Cameron stopped for a second, pulled her mouth from Donna’s breast, and looked at her. She noticed the freckles on her collarbone and Donna, drunkenly dizzy and stupefied, said, “What’s wrong?”

“Shh,” Cam said, brushing Donna’s bangs from her face. “Nothing’s wrong. Just wanted to admire how beautiful you really are. Don’t know why, but I never really looked.”

Donna was quiet again. Her breaths were slowing, and her eyes had closed. She’d fallen asleep.

Softly, and as gently as she could, Cameron pulled the blouse and skirt back on Donna the best she could before covering her in a blanket and putting a pillow beneath her head. She smiled to herself – this may have been the first tryst, but she didn’t think it’d be the last. Might be awhile before the next one though.

“Sleep well, little lamb,” she said, kissing Donna on her forehead. Barefoot, she padded into the next room, turned the volume down on the monitor, and continued the game that Donna had so poorly started.

“Someone’s gotta teach her how to play games for real.”

Soft snores could be heard in the other room. Donna was out. Cameron wondered just how much she would remember, but then decided that it didn’t matter.

As she’d thought before, another tryst was inevitable with the way they worked together. The chemistry was there and would remain, especially if Joe and Gordon.

Cameron pushed the thought from her mind. The blue tank exploded, and she quietly yelped in happiness. Something had gone right, for once. Something nice.

She hit enter and started another game.

 

 


End file.
